this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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Why do modern strategy games hate the grid? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
67 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

OK, I finally took the plunge on Baldur's Gate 3, and, coming from playing several hundreds of hours of Solasta recently, the first thing I noticed is the lack of a combat grid.

Going back a bit further, my son and I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. We were super pumped for the sequel, but when it finally came out, it kind of fell flat for both of us. Whether or not it's down to this, I don't know, but they also removed the grid.

That game, of course, was an XCom-like. XCom used a grid, but a more recent Firaxis game, Marvel's Midnight Suns, got rid of the grid as well.

To me, all these gridless iterations of classic strategy games just aren't as engaging. I guess they're going for a more immersive rpg type of feel? But to me it seems to sacrifice the strategy aspect, and ultimately, judging based on my hours played, that always ends up being too great a sacrifice. My play time on Marvel's Midnight Suns is less than 10% of Xcom 2, and the same is true for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

I'm sure BG3 is a great game, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the campaign, but so far it's not giving me the 'feels'.

Do you miss grids? Or did they only slow you down?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I do not miss the grid at all, I hate being conformed to grids instead of more fluid real movement. It’s just more immersive to order my troops to move as a real person could move, not slide on a rail and stand there in this open space like a chess piece

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your comment doesn't make sense. There's no relation between a grid and standing out in the open. With free movement, if you order the character to finish their movement in the open, they're going to be out in the open.

And I also don't see the relation between grids and "sliding".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I'm pretty sure in X-com there wasn't any sliding? It was all very fluid movement, but you could easily see where you troops could move to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Jagged Alliance 3 has grid, but the movements are more fluid than I've seen in a while. It's all about polish and execution.